Korean investors face ‘blind’ trading in popular US leveraged ETFs

South Korean retail investors are trading some popular US leveraged securities without access to real-time quotes during daytime hours, after Blue Ocean ATS suspended trading in 18 securities to comply with US Securities and Exchange Commission rules. The suspension took effect with Monday’s 8 p.m. ET session, Blue Ocean ATS said. Most of the affected securities are leveraged or inverse products, including the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares, known as SOXL, and the Direxion Daily MSC

2026-09-02 15:04:08:00

Yim Jong-yong buys 5,000 Woori Financial shares

Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-ryong and 55 other senior executives have purchased company shares as the group expands its nonbanking operations and integrates its two life insurers. Yim bought 5,000 shares Aug. 24, shortly after Woori Financial completed its acquisition of Dongyang Life Insurance and announced plans to merge it with ABL Life Insurance, the company said Wednesday. The shares were purchased at 31,800 won ($23.26) apiece, bringing Yim's holdings to 15,000 shares. The othe

2026-09-02 11:52:50:00

Leveraged ETF fallout stalls new market initiatives

Backlash over leveraged exchange-traded funds has the Financial Services Commission treading more cautiously on further capital market reforms, putting two planned market initiatives at risk of delay. The Korea Exchange’s fractional investment market, scheduled to open in November, is increasingly likely to be postponed, according to financial industry sources Tuesday. Nextrade’s plan to begin after-hours ETF trading this year has also stalled. Industry officials said the regulator is reassessin

2026-09-01 16:35:37:00

BOK chief says won more resilient, US investment manageable

Bank of Korea Gov. Shin Hyun-song said the won had become more resilient to external shocks and that South Korea’s planned investment in the United States should have a manageable impact on the currency. “We have gained some control over the exchange rate and are well prepared for whatever shocks may come,” Shin told reporters Friday after attending the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Wyoming for the first time as BOK governor. He cited the BOK’s recent preemptive rate increase and poi

2026-08-30 14:56:09:00

Veteran technocrat tapped as finance minister

South Korea’s First Vice Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il was nominated Sunday as deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy, placing a veteran technocrat with deep experience in macroeconomic policy at the helm of the country’s economy. Born in Daegu in 1971, Lee studied economics at Seoul National University and earned a doctorate from Texas A&M University. He entered public service in 1993 after passing the national civil service examination. At the Finance Ministry, Lee held key

2026-08-30 14:00:21:00

Korea needs ‘Korea rally,’ not memory rally: J.P. Morgan

J.P. Morgan Asset Management says Korea must turn its semiconductor-led surge into a broader “Korea rally” to attract foreign capital that stays beyond the memory cycle. “A trigger for more durable inflows would be evidence of broader earnings growth across non-memory tech, industrials, financials and consumer. In other words, a ‘Korea rally’ rather than a ‘memory rally,’ along with a wider uplift in turnover,” Alexander Treves, managing director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and head of inves

2026-08-30 09:53:52:00

South Korea releases sovereign AI project scores, SKT ranks first

South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday released detailed scores from the second-phase evaluation of its Sovereign AI Foundation Model Project. The detailed results were released at the request of Motif Technologies, which was eliminated in the second phase, with the consent of the other shortlisted teams. SK Telecom ranked first with 70.6 points overall in the second-phase evaluation, followed by Upstage with 69.9 points, LG AI Research Institute with 69 points and Motif Technolog

2026-08-27 21:19:38:00

Korea Investment affiliates pursue spinoff merger

Korea Investment Management and Korea Investment Value Asset Management are pursuing a spinoff merger. The two companies said in regulatory filings Thursday that their boards had separately approved a merger agreement. Under the agreement, Korea Investment Management will spin off its securities fund and money market fund businesses and merge them into Korea Investment Value Asset Management. The companies plan to hold an extraordinary general meeting on Sept. 11 to approve the spinoff merger. T

2026-08-27 20:14:21:00

Illegal short selling suspicions reported to FSS rise

The number of suspected illegal short selling cases reported to South Korea’s financial regulator has risen steadily in recent years, as a new system allows authorities to monitor institutional investors’ short selling activity in real time. The increase has been driven in part by the launch of its naked short selling detection system, known as NSDS, but market watchers say authorities should move faster to investigate cases, impose sanctions and recover illicit gains. The Financial Supervisory

2026-08-27 20:04:45:00

South Korea retail investor deposits fall below 100 trillion won

South Korean investors’ deposits fell below 100 trillion won ($72.4 billion) again, while margin debt, a measure of leveraged investing, climbed back above 33 trillion won. Investor deposits stood at 98.92 trillion won as of Wednesday, down 3.62 trillion won from the previous session, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association. It was the first time deposits had fallen below 100 trillion won in two weeks, since Aug. 12, when they stood at 99.98 trillion won. The deposits had risen a

2026-08-27 20:02:10:00